Public Health Minister Somsak Thepsutin is confident that smart investment in the medical and wellness industry will generate a substantial proportion of the national income this year.
Mr Somsak chaired a meeting on Friday to drive policies to increase Thailand's potential as a medical and wellness hub.
During the meeting, he announced seven key policies that aligned with global health trends to strengthen the medical and wellness industry.
"These policies will help create 690 billion baht in economic value for Thailand in 2025, or around 3.39% of the nation's gross domestic product (GDP)," the minister said.
According to the ministry's permanent secretary, Dr Opas Kankawinpong, Thailand has shown outstanding success in health product development and service expansion, leading to the recent increase in investment by domestic and foreign investors.
The seven policies focus on supporting strategic growth in the health and wellness sector, elevating traditional Thai therapeutic wisdom, promoting health tourism and expediting the development of the medical equipment industry to push Thailand as a manufacturing hub, he said.
The Health Economics Department has recently been established to determine policies regarding health economics through data-driven analysis, allocate resources and create an efficient public health system that's fair and sustainable.
As part of the effort to upgrade the traditional medicine sector, Thai massage therapists are being trained to become specialists in seven syndromes, including muscle pain syndrome (office syndrome), frozen shoulder, trigger finger and paralysis.
More Thai herbs have been included on the national drug list under the National Health Security Office, which is expected to generate over 13.5 billion baht of annual revenue, Dr Opas said.
In the realm of health tourism, "wellness routes" highlighting spas and hot springs will be promoted. Meanwhile, an "allocation" package model -- a combination of a hotel stay, wellness treatments and traditional Thai medicine services -- has also been developed and piloted in some destinations such as Phuket.
Currently, the value of the country's wellness tourism is estimated at about 1.42 trillion baht, he said.
Dr Opas said the ministry is also looking to promote domestic manufacturing of health products and medical equipment and facilitate the process of product licensing and registration.
Thailand is also seeking to be a hub for Advanced Therapy Medicine Products (ATMPs) by 2028, Dr Opas said, of which the global market value will likely reach 1.25 trillion baht by 2030.
The policies also focus on upgrading aesthetic clinics in Thailand to world-class standards, offering training courses for aestheticians, and supporting entrepreneurs in beauty product development.
A system will be developed to help facilitate visitors looking for services such as psychiatric and behavioural therapy, surrogacy, reproductive technology and gender confirmation surgery, said Dr Opas.
Minister Somsak said he was confident the policies would help create 690 billion baht in economic value for Thailand, or 3.39% of the national GDP.
"The amount is higher than the 2.8% forecast by the Office of the National Economic and Social Development Council," Mr Somsak said.
However, he said the ministry would have to amend several laws and regulations to facilitate the advancement of the health and wellness sector.